Although many people recognize that their blood sugar is important, few recognize how it affects them on a daily basis, and how balancing their blood sugar is key to managing so many of their day-to-day symptoms, feelings, and activities. So let’s discuss blood sugar and discover why balancing blood sugar is so important for your health.

What is blood sugar?

Sugar, or glucose, is the body’s main source of energy, and the term “blood sugar” refers to the amount of energy (sugar) present in our bloodstream at one given time. Sugar is produced when we break down any form of carbohydrate, from oatmeal to candy, and is absorbed from our digestive tract into our bloodstream to be used as a source of energy for the body. So, the term blood sugar simply refers to the amount of sugar (or glucose) in your blood at a given time.

Understanding Balanced Blood Sugar

Our blood sugar is the master controller that dictates our hunger, our cravings, and our energy. We feel our best when our blood sugar is balanced; not too high or not too low. Balanced blood sugar helps keep our brain healthy, our energy levels stable and our mood balanced. However, when disrupted, our blood sugar can lead to increased sugar cravings, irritability, poor sleep, brain fog, anxiety, low energy and weight gain, and in the longer term, diabetes. It is important to understand that balancing blood sugar is not only important for those with diabetes or severe health conditions, balancing blood sugar is important for everyone.

How Blood Sugar Works

Your blood sugar is controlled by two main hormones; insulin and glucagon. Every time that you eat, your pancreas creates insulin that is released into the bloodstream to regulate blood sugar. Insulin is essentially the traffic controller of your bloodstream; it determines how much sugar is kept in your bloodstream and how much sugar is stored in your cells. When you eat carbohydrate-based foods, they are broken down into glucose which goes into your bloodstream. When this occurs your pancreas produces insulin to help regulate the amount of sugar in your bloodstream and transfers the glucose to your cells, specifically your liver cells, your muscle cells, and your fat cells. Insulin’s job is to unlock the door to your cells, so that glucose can go into the cells, and out of the bloodstream. This process helps to bring your blood sugar levels back down to a normal range, and also provides the necessary energy for our cells to function.

When Blood Sugar is Disrupted

However, when you eat a meal with a lot of sugar, or carbohydrates, you end up giving your body more glucose than it actually needs at one given time. In a balanced state, the body should be able to regulate this excess glucose and bring down blood sugar levels within an hour or two, but when sugar or carbohydrate-rich foods are consistently over-consumed, this process becomes stressed.

As you continue to over-consume carbohydrate-rich foods, your body needs more and more and more insulin to manage your blood sugar. Eventually, your body becomes resistant to this insulin response, which means that insulin is no longer able to unlock your cell doors. This creates two problems; excess glucose begins to accumulate in the bloodstream (also known as high blood sugar), and the cells become starved for energy because insulin is unable to unlock the doors to let glucose into them. This is known as insulin resistance.

The Problem with Insulin Resistance

When the body becomes resistant to insulin, many issues can arise. Although you may be consuming carbohydrate-based foods, your cells become starved for energy because insulin can no longer unlock the doors to allow glucose into them. This means that you end up feeling low on energy and you end up craving more and more sugar and carbohydrate-based foods because our cells are “starved” for energy. Additionally, as you become insulin resistant it becomes more and more difficult for the body to burn body fat, and easier and easier for you to gain weight. Why? Because when our blood sugar is high, our body does not see the need to burn body fat (our backup fuel) for energy, and our high blood sugar levels encourage fatty acids in the bloodstream to go into fat storage.

So, when you are insulin resistant and your blood sugar is disrupted, you end up with low energy, more cravings, irritability when you miss a meal, trouble sleeping, trouble concentrating, and increased fat storage, especially around your belly.

How to Balance Blood Sugar

The good news is, disrupted blood sugar and insulin resistance can be corrected with changes in diet and lifestyle habits.

Monitoring the quantity and quality of your carbohydrate intake is a very important factor in balancing your blood sugar. Minimizing processed carbohydrates like crackers, granola bars, baked goods, bread, pasta, sugary drinks, and sweets is vital to minimizing dips and spikes in blood sugar levels. Instead, opt for whole food carbohydrates such as whole grains (rice, oats, quinoa, etc…), bean, lentils, fruit, and vegetables which will help to stabilize blood sugar levels since they are high in fiber and nutrient-dense.  Additionally, ensuring that you are eating balanced meals that contain a source of protein and fat is also imperative to balancing blood sugar. Protein helps to balance blood sugar levels, and fat helps to slow the absorption of glucose into the bloodstream.

Finally, lack of or poor sleep can cause cells to be less sensitive to insulin, so getting adequate sleep is important, while exercise helps to encourage glucose to go into your muscle cells, which helps to manage blood glucose levels, so getting daily activity is also beneficial.

The Bottom Line

At the end of the day, the simplest way to start balancing your blood sugar is to focus on whole foods. Whole foods come packed with fiber, nutrients, proteins, and fats, and do not include copious amounts of refined sugars which are detrimental to blood sugar. When it comes to carbohydrates, it is important to focus on quality over quantity, and ensure that you create a balanced meal, with protein and fat, every time that you eat.

Whether it’s the saltiness of potato chips, the richness of chocolate, or the creaminess of ice cream, food cravings are something that we have all experienced. They often come out of nowhere and can be difficult to overcome until you indulge in that salty, rich, or creamy treat. However, cravings are generally a sign of something occurring in the body, and if you can learn to listen, you can learn to tackle them before they get out of control. So here is a breakdown of what your cravings mean and what you can do about them.

What are Cravings?

Food cravings are both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, they are a form of communication from the body, and, on the other hand, they can trigger us to eat the exact foods we are trying to avoid. Cravings are different from hunger in the fact that they are a way of our body asking for exactly what it needs. The human body is smart and intuitive, and our cravings are signs of what our body may be deficient in or what processes may not be working optimally. Cravings are not only influenced by our chemical makeup, but also by our environment. Often times we crave certain foods based on certain situations, feelings, or habits. For instance, you may crave popcorn at the movies, crackers when you get home from work, or ice cream when you are sad, not necessarily because your body is asking for it, but because you have associated those foods with those situations and feelings.

What Your Cravings Mean

Certain cravings can be an indication of the state of our diet, our blood sugar, and the nutrients we are deficient in, so if you pay attention, you can give the body exactly what it needs, in the very best format.

Carbohydrate Cravings

What it Means: A constant craving for carbohydrates, specifically in the processed form, is usually an indication of insulin resistance, hypoglycemia, or plain old fatigue. Carbohydrates are the body’s primary source of energy, so when we are looking for an energy boost, we crave simple and refined carbohydrates in the form of items like crackers, cookies, bread, and granola bars. Recurring cravings for refined carbohydrates are also a sign of insulin resistance, as the body is demonstrating its inability to regulate blood sugar (and therefore energy) effectively, so you end up needing more, more often, to feel energized. Additionally, given there is not adequate fiber, vitamins, or minerals present in these forms of carbohydrates, your cravings can actually become heightened over time. By eating a bagel for breakfast, a granola bar for a snack, a sub for lunch, and pasta for dinner, you actually perpetuate the cycle of carbohydrate cravings. And not to be forgotten, poor sleep is also a trigger for carbohydrate cravings since the body will seek extra sources of energy to keep going.

What to do About it: In order to reduce carbohydrate cravings, replace refined carbohydrates at meals with vegetables, sweet potatoes, beans, lentils, and whole grains such as rice, oatmeal, or quinoa. These whole food sources of carbohydrates are rich in fiber and nutrients, and will therefore not disrupt blood sugar as refined versions will. Additionally, try to add a source of protein to every meal, be it meat-based or plant-based, as this will help to balance your blood sugar, keep yourself fuelled for longer periods of time, and keep cravings at bay.

Sugar Cravings

What it Means: Sugar is our brain’s preferred source of fuel and therefore we have been programmed to seek it out, however, our biology has not caught up to the fact that sugar is now readily available. Similar to carbohydrates, common causes of sugar cravings include insulin resistance, as well as dehydration, stress, and poor gut health. Dehydration is actually one of the most common causes of sugar cravings because a lack of fluid intake can make it more difficult for the body to metabolize glycogen (stored glucose) for energy, so our bodies crave sugar to provide us with a quick source of energy. Sugar also helps to temporarily reduce feelings of stress by increasing our dopamine levels, the body’s happy neurotransmitter, giving us a temporary boost in pleasure. Moreover, a disrupted microbiome and lack of beneficial bacteria in the gut can cause us to crave sugar since yeast and bacteria actually thrive on sugar. So the more disrupted your gut health is, the more you may actually experience sugar cravings which only continues the negative cycle of poor gut health.

What to do About it: Not only is it important to try to limit obvious sources of sugar like candy and ice cream, but it is vitally important to look for hidden sources of sugar. Unfortunately,  these are the sources of sugar that become more problematic over time, so it is important to read all labels and look for common keywords for sugar. Additionally, in an effort to help manage blood sugar, add more fiber-rich vegetables and protein to meals, and focus on eating more whole grains, potatoes, beans, and lentils as opposed to pasta, bread, and crackers. And finally, avoid consuming large amounts of natural sugar such as dried fruit, honey, and maple syrup, because even natural sources of sugar can perpetuate sugar cravings if consumed in excess.

Chocolate Cravings

What it Means: Chocolate is one of the most craved foods, and with good reason; not only is it delicious, but real chocolate has nutritional properties that cause us to crave it. Cacao, the natural form of chocolate, is a rich source of magnesium, the body’s anti-stress mineral, and cacao is known for its ability to increase levels of the mood-boosting neurotransmitter dopamine. Dopamine helps contribute to feelings of well-being and happiness, so it’s no wonder we reach for it when we are stressed or looking for a little mood boost. However, it is important to understand that not all chocolate is created equal. Dark chocolate contains higher concentrations of cacao and lower amounts of sugar as compared to processed forms of chocolate which are more like candy than actual cacao.

What to do About it: In order to ensure you get the nutritional benefits of cacao to support your cravings, reach for chocolate with 75% cacao content or more. Chocolate with lower percentages not only contain less cacao but often contains extra sugar, additives, and fillers, making them a less-than-ideal choice. In addition to actual chocolate, cacao powder or cacao nibs can be added to items like smoothies,  chia seed pudding, or granola for added flavor and benefits. Additionally, items such as pumpkin seeds, spinach, and swiss chard are also rich sources of magnesium which are beneficial to include in the diet.

Salt Cravings

What it Means: Can’t get enough of salty foods? This may be linked to fluctuating stress hormones or low electrolytes. A constant craving for salt may be a sign that you are actually dehydrated since sodium is a natural electrolyte that helps to balance the fluid levels of our cells. Sodium, along with potassium, controls the influx of water into our cells, so consuming water without an appropriate electrolyte balance in the diet means the body will struggle to actually put all of the water you are drinking to good use. Stress can also influence salt cravings given our adrenal glands, which produce adrenaline, cortisol, and aldosterone, regulate sodium in the body, so when taxed they become less efficient at regulating sodium, which may lead to greater salt cravings.

What to do About it: Using high-quality salt in the diet can help to support electrolyte balance and minimize salt cravings. Refined and iodized salts do not have the same effects, therefore it is best to use a high-quality sea salt or Himalayan salt. Moreover, B-vitamin-rich foods are great for supporting stress, so get your fill of nuts, seeds, legumes, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.

Fried Food Cravings

What it Means:  If you are constantly looking for French fries or love a good batch of chicken fingers, cravings for fried foods may be a sign of essential fatty acid deficiency. Although fried foods are rich sources of fat, they are not rich sources of healthy fat, since they are commonly cooked in refined vegetable oils which are highly inflammatory to the body. Given that fat is essential to our health, as it is required for optimal brain function, hormone function, and nutrient absorption, consuming a low-fat diet can cause us to crave more fat since our body requires it to function. Not only does avoiding fat-based food limit the amount of fat in our diet, but it also minimizes the intake, absorption, and utilization of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K.

What to do About it: Ensure that you are consuming whole food sources of fat at every meal, such as eggs, meat, seafood, nuts, seeds, avocado, olives, butter, or natural oils. It is imperative to avoid all forms of vegetable-based cooking oils, and opt for high-quality cooking oils such as butter, ghee, olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, or animal fats. Not only will this help to optimize your fatty acid profile, but support the intake of fat-soluble nutrients.

“Brown rice is healthier than white rice.” “Brown bread is healthier than white bread.” “Brown sugar is healthier than white sugar.” “Brown eggs are healthier than white eggs.”

Have you heard these lines before? Most likely yes. For years we have been told that brown foods are healthier than white foods, with people opting for brown bread and brown rice, but unfortunately, that’s not quite the case. Although almost considered common knowledge at this point, the concept that brown food options are the healthiest choice is simplistic and oh-so misunderstood.

Brown Bread vs. White Bread

What differentiates healthy bread from unhealthy bread is not its colour, but rather the way it was made and what it was made from. The quality of bread is determined by the format of the grains, the type of flour used and the way the bread was prepared. Even brown bread can be made from refined flour and loaded with additives and preservatives, making it a less-than-ideal option. In fact, manufacturers will sometimes add colouring agents and molasses to darken the colour of their refined white bread to help them appear like healthier options.

Instead, opt for sourdough bread, sprouted grain bread, or whole grain bread to ensure you are making a healthy choice.

Brown Rice vs. White Rice

Brown rice has long been touted as superior to white rice, however, that is certainly not the case. The major difference between brown and white rice is that brown rice is a whole grain, as it contains the bran and germ, while white rice has had the bran and germ removed from the grain. Although this may sound like a good thing, the bran and germ present in brown rice actually contain many anti-nutrients, such as phytic acid, which can make it hard for our bodies to break down and absorb the nutrients present. Therefore, for many, white rice is much more easily digested and absorbed than brown rice, and can serve as a great source of energy.

When opting for white rice, be sure to choose the most unprocessed versions available; basmati, jasmine, short-grain or long-grain are ideal.

Brown Eggs vs. White Eggs

The difference between brown eggs and white eggs has nothing to do with nutrition, it simply has to do with the type of hen they were laid from. The colour of an egg’s shell depends on the breed of hen and can range from white, cream, brown, blue, and green. Generally speaking, white eggs are laid by white-feathered chickens with white or light-coloured earlobes while brown ones are laid by brown-feathered chickens with red earlobes.

So when picking eggs, don’t worry about the colour. Instead, look for the best quality eggs you can find, be white, cream, brown, blue, or green.

Brown Sugar vs. White Sugar

Generally speaking, brown sugar is white sugar that has been slightly less processed. Raw sugar, which is brown in nature, undergoes processing in order to create white sugar, and brown sugar is simply created by adding a small amount of molasses (the by-product of sugar) to create brown sugar. Although molasses does contain some trace minerals, the amounts found in brown sugar are negligible and therefore both brown sugar and white sugar are calorically and nutritionally equivalent.

Regardless of colour, it is best to limit added sugars as much as possible, and if you do need to sweeten something, opt for natural sweeteners instead.

The Bottom Line

Remember, nutrition is all about context; where the food came from and how it was made, not it’s colour.

Carbohydrates have long been demonized as the cause of weight gain and obesity, forcing people to obsessively count carbs and count calories. However, research suggests that it is not the number of carbs that you eat but rather the source of the carbs that is more influential in your health and weight. So here is a case for carbs, and why quality always trumps quantity.

What are carbs?

Although for many people the term ‘carbs’ conjures up images of bagels, pasta, muffins, and glazed donuts, there is a lot more to carbs. Carbohydrates are defined as any type of food that is made up of sugar, starch, and fiber, and includes everything from bread and pasta to fruits and vegetables.

What are good-quality carbs?

Essentially, any form of carbohydrate that is a whole food can be considered a quality carbohydrate; this includes fruits, vegetables, root vegetables, whole grains, beans, and lentils. Good quality carbohydrates are unprocessed whole foods that are eaten cooked or in their natural state.

What are poor-quality carbs?

Poor-quality carbohydrates are simple; they include any form of carbohydrate that is not whole food. Poor-quality carbs are often referred to as refined carbs and are typically grain-based products and/or sources of processed sugar. Refined carbs include items such as cereals, granola bars, crackers, cookies, pastries, sodas, sweets, and treats. These forms of carbs are processed foods that, in addition to containing carbs, also contain added sugars, refined oils, additives, and preservatives.

Why Quality trumps Quantity

Although many people get excited about counting carbs or calories from carbs, the quality of the carbs that you consume is far more important than the quantity of carbs that you consume. Why? Because the type of carb that you chose (i.e. quality) has a much greater impact on how it affects the body than how much of it (i.e. quantity) you eat. (1)

Consider this, if you had the option to eat donuts or steel-cut oatmeal for breakfast, which do you think you could eat more of? I’m willing to bet you could eat multiple donuts but would struggle to eat multiple bowls of oatmeal. If you had the option to munch on a bag of chips or eat some boiled potatoes, which do you think you could eat more of? I’m willing to bet you could eat a whole bag of chips but would struggle to eat multiple boiled potatoes. And if you had the option to eat a bag of candy or eat a bag of carrots, which do you think you would finish first?

Part of the reason for this is that carbohydrates in their whole format are dense sources of fiber and nutrients, are satiating to the body, and will eventually trigger palette fatigue over time. On the contrary, refined carbohydrates are chemically engineered in laboratories by food manufacturers to be highly palatable making them incredibly easy to over-consume. Not only are refined carbs devoid of their own nutrients, but refined carbs will spike your blood sugar which will lead to increased cravings and, in turn, food intake.

The Role of Insulin

Every time that you eat a glucose-containing food (carbs) you trigger an insulin response in the body. Put simply, insulin’s role in the body is to manage the amount of glucose present in the bloodstream at one time, as glucose is the body’s primary source of energy. So, every time you eat carbs the glucose (sugar) present in the carbs raises the level of sugar in your blood, however, since you only need a certain amount of glucose in the bloodstream at one given time (i.e. you only need so much energy at one given time) your body will regulate your level of blood sugar by storing excess in the cells for a later time (AKA – as body fat).

The primary concern with refined carbs lies in the fact that they not only contain abundant amounts of glucose per bite but when repeatedly consumed insulin must constantly work to manage the constant supply of sugar to the bloodstream. Over time, insulin will get “tired” or become resistant to this influx of sugar. It is at this point where problems begin to arise; although you might be constantly ingesting carbohydrates or sugars for energy, that energy is not actually making its way to the cells (where the energy is actually needed) since insulin has become resistant to this constant influx of glucose and is no longer managing the balance of sugar in your bloodstream. Over time, this means that your body will ask for more and more energy (i.e. sugar and carb cravings) to fuel the cells given it is not all making its way into them properly.

On the contrary, high-quality whole-food carbohydrates such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, and lentils are not concentrated forms of glucose, therefore do not spike your blood sugar, and come equipped with fiber and nutrients that actually support the body’s insulin response, not throw it out of balance. That is why a diet rich in carbs from fruit and vegetables is very different from a diet rich in carbs from crackers and pretzels.

And Don’t Forget About Leptin

In addition to insulin, leptin, insulin’s counterpart, also plays an important role in the carb conversation. Leptin is the gatekeeper of our appetite; it is stored in our fat tissues and its role is to signal to our body when we are full and tell us when we have enough energy stored. However, the more body fat you have, the more you can develop a decreased sensitivity to leptin, so if you continue to make the body produce leptin in excess the body becomes desensitized to its signal. Essentially, it becomes difficult for the body to know when to stop, so a vicious cycle of cravings and overconsumption of refined carbohydrates continues further contributing to weight gain.

The Bottom Line

While both the quality and quantity of the carbohydrates that you consume are important, quality outweighs quantity. Whole food sources of carbohydrates are not only more satiating, allowing us to consume less, but whole food sources do not cause the same damaging insulin and leptin responses that refined carbohydrates do. So, if you are trying to lose weight, stop counting your carbs and start by focusing on the right sources. Focus on whole foods; eat an abundance of vegetables, some fruit, root vegetables, legumes, and whole grain, and save refined and highly processed carbohydrates for special occasions.

Eating well and cooking from scratch can seem overwhelming when life gets busy and we are short on time. Fortunately, there are plenty of items that you can buy at the grocery store that can help make eating well a breeze without compromising flavour.

List of Healthy Store-Bought Foods

Here are 12 of my favourite healthy store-bought foods that can help make cooking easy while still being good for you.

1. Pesto

Pesto is a staple ingredient that I always have on hand in the fridge. It works well as a marinade for meats, make a great salad dressing, adds flavour to vegetables or scrambled eggs, and works well with potatoes, rice or quinoa. Honestly, the options are endless. Pesto is made of a combination of herbs (typically basil), pine nuts, oil, and parmesan cheese. Grocery stores will often carry multiple varieties of pesto, with different herbs and nuts, however, it is really the oil that you want to pay attention to. If you can find a version made with olive oil, not vegetable or canola oil, it is a great addition to your fridge staples.

2. Muesli

Store-bought granolas and oatmeals are certainly delicious, but they often contain added sugar, refined oils, and preservatives making them a less-than-ideal choice. Fortunately, muesli is a great alternative to both that can be eaten cold or warm depending on your mood. Muesli is just a simple mixture of oats, nuts, seeds and/or dried fruit, and is easily found in any grocery store making it one of the best healthy store-bought foods. Dorset Cereals happens to be one of my favourite brands.

3. Tomato Sauce

Store-bought spaghetti sauces have a bit of a bad rap because many of them contain sugar, however, many of them do not. In fact, many of them are made of whole foods like tomatoes, garlic, spices and olive oil, making them a great option. Just be sure to read the ingredients before you pick a brand and flavour so you know exactly what you are getting.

4. Canned Bean Medleys

If you are in need of a quick salad, a canned bean medley is a great way to go; they can be eaten on their own with a little dressing or added to any salad. Beans are a great source of plant-based protein and make a great lunch or dinner, just opt for low-sodium brands whenever possible.

5. Soups

There are about 100 different varieties of soup in the average grocery store, and although many are less than ideal, you can often find some really good options! Brands like Happy Planet and Amy’s have flavours made solely of whole food ingredients in their product lines, however, not all of the flavours are. To be sure, just read the ingredients and look for flavours without any additives or sugars.

6. Frozen Vegetables

Good news, frozen vegetables are a great option and just as nutrient-dense as fresh vegetables. Often picked and packaged at the peak of freshness, frozen vegetables are a great way to save a bit of money and a perfect addition to soups, stews or stir-frys on busy nights when you can’t be bothered to chop your own.

7. Seasoning Blends

Ensuring that our food is flavourful and well-seasoned helps to make eating well much more enjoyable. Many grocery stores carry Mexican, Italian, BBQ, or poultry blends that can be used as quick seasonings for meats or vegetables. However, note that some brands and blends may include added sugars and preservatives, so just read the ingredients to find the ones that don’t.

8. Hummus

Hummus is a great protein-rich snack for adults and kids alike, and it’s also a great alternative to dips or sandwich spreads. Made of a combination of chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice and oil, grocery stores will carry a variety of different brands and flavours. However, similar to pesto, some hummus brands are made with canola oil, so be sure to read the ingredients and opt for varieties made of olive or sunflower oil.

9. Hot Sauce

Hot sauce is the perfect pantry staple you can put on anything to take it from bland to great. There are a number of different hot sauce brands and flavours available in grocery stores, so just compare the labels to find the versions without additives.

10. Bagged Salads

Bagged salads are a great option that you can buy in bulk to help cut down on prep work and make getting your leafy greens easy. The worst part of most bagged salads is the dressing they come with (as it is often made with vegetable oil and added sugar), however, by simply making your own dressing, or buying an olive oil-based version, you can use bagged salad for lunches and dinners without any concern.

11. Curry Paste

Along with pesto, this is one of my personal favourite healthy store-bought foods. Curry pastes are chock full of flavour and help alleviate the need to buy a bunch of random ingredients and spend hours in the kitchen. A simple dollop of curry paste along with some chicken, vegetables and a can of coconut milk can make an incredible Thai curry dinner in less than 30 minutes.

12. The Deli Counter

The deli counter of many grocery stores is filled with healthy store-bought foods that people often overlook. Aside from the actual deli meats, many grocery stores will carry pre-made salads, vegetable dishes, and cooked meats that you can buy by weight. Not only does this help cut down on meal prep time, but can help you in a pinch at a fraction of the cost of takeout.

When it comes to fats, people are quick to point the finger and label them as “good” or “bad”, and “healthy” or “unhealthy”. Although that might seem like a good way to look at things, it doesn’t really work, because the food itself is actually a lot simpler than that. In fact, when it comes to distinguishing fats, there is truly only one way to do it, and that’s simply to ask yourself if they were made by Mother Nature or not.

Natural vs. Man-Made Fats

When you get back to basics, food is really simple. Real food comes from nature, and either comes from a plant or an animal, that’s it. Real food, the good stuff you should be eating, doesn’t come from a factory, a box, or a chemical experiment. If all of the grocery stores disappeared tomorrow, we would still be able to find real food because it is available to us in nature. So in order to compare “good” fats to “bad” fats, the best place to start is by looking at real food.

Real food fats include whole foods like nuts, seeds, olives, avocados, eggs, dairy, seafood, and animal fats. These are 1-ingredient foods that are present in nature that cultures have been using for thousands of years. They are whole foods in their whole format that contain fats and nutrients that are essential to our body. Mother nature is no fool, she didn’t put the egg yolk with the egg white to have you throw it out, she put it there because it is all good for you.

On the contrary, man-made fats are the types of fats that are not present in nature, and without industrial processing and chemical reactions would be impossible to re-create. Man-made fats include vegetable oils and trans fats that are anything but natural. These types of fats can only be manufactured in factories with chemical processes, and if the grocery stores went away tomorrow you wouldn’t be able to find these types of fats. I hate to use labels, but if I must use the term, man-made fats are the “bad” fats, not the stuff Mother Nature gave to us.

Types of Natural Fats

Now that we’ve distinguished the fundamental difference between natural fats and man-made fats, I want to say this loud and clear:

NATURE DOES NOT MAKE UNHEALTHY FATS.

Zero, zilch, zip, nada, nothing.

Any whole food that contains fat that comes from Mother Nature is good for you. End of discussion.

Bacon – good.

Egg yolks – good.

Butter – good.

Chicken skin – good.

Avocado – yes, eat the whole thing.

If you think about this logically, why on earth would part of the egg be healthy, and the other part not? It’s the same egg. Why on earth would one cut of the animal be healthy and the other cut not? It’s the same animal. Why on earth would milk be healthy, but butter, the stuff made from milk, not be healthy? By using that same logic, one could argue the right side of an apple could be healthy but the left side not. It just doesn’t make sense.

Types of Fat

Now, I know what you are thinking, “But it’s because there are different types of fat!” Ok, let’s roll with that for a minute.

Strictly looking at fats found in nature, fats can be broken down into three categories; saturated fats, monounsaturated fats, and polyunsaturated fats. Saturated fats are distinguished by their bond structure; they contain no double bonds, as the chain is “saturated” by hydrogen between the carbon atoms. Because of their structure, saturated fats are generally solid at room temperature, making them a great fat for high heat. Monounsaturated fats, on the other hand, have one (mono-) double bonds between the carbons, hence they are considered unsaturated. While polyunsaturated fats, similar to monounsaturated, have more than one (poly-) double bond. This includes essentially fatty-acids omega-3 and omega-6.

But here is the catch, all-natural fats contain a combination of all three of these types of fats! Although we often classify fat-based foods by the type of fats they contain (such as butter as saturated and olive oil as unsaturated), in reality, they all contain multiple types of fats, not just one. For instance, butter and olive oil both contain a combination of saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fats. So, often people are classifying things as “good” or “bad” without looking at the whole picture.

The Bottom Line

If you want to eat well, it is actually really simple, choose real food. By opting for real food you are, by default, only choosing healthy fats. Mother nature does not make unhealthy fats and anything that comes from a tree or an animal can be used in a healthy diet. So spread your butter and throw away the margarine, drizzle the olive oil ditch the canola oil, and eat your bacon, chicken skin, and brisket without concern. These are the foods that humans have eaten for thousands of years, and Mother Nature is no fool.

Artificial sweeteners are the darlings of the food industry, enabling food manufacturers to label items as “zero-calorie” and “sugar-free”, found in everything from diet sodas to chewing gum and granola bars. Artificial sweeteners are one of the most commonly used additives in processed foods, offering a solution to individuals trying to lose weight or ways to satisfy a sweet tooth, but at what cost?

What are artificial sweeteners?

Artificial sweeteners are a mix of laboratory chemicals, combined to create a sweet taste. They were originally created to help serve a health purpose as they are 200 to 400 times sweeter than sugar, and therefore only a very small amount is needed to provide sweetness without added calories. They were positioned as a “guilt-free” alternative to sugar used by food manufacturers in diet food products labeled as “zero-calorie” or “sugar-free”.

Today, there are many artificial sweeteners on the market including aspartame (Equal™), saccharin (Sweet ‘N Low™), sucralose (Splenda™), Ace-K, and Nutrasweet™.  However, these non-nutritive sweeteners, as they are sometimes referred to, have been controversial since their introduction to the market in the 1950s, and with good reason, as they are anything but healthy.

The Problems with Artificial Sweeteners

Although created with good intentions, it turns out artificial sweeteners are likely too good to be true, and their side effects may not be worth it.

Artificial Sweeteners are Chemicals

At the end of the day, artificial sweeteners are chemicals, there is just no way around it. Artificial sweeteners are chemical products created in a laboratory and are anything but natural for our bodies to consume. When it comes to food, the definition is actually really simple; there is real food, and then there is everything else. Artificial sweeteners are heavily processed, chemically created, food-like products that serve no function or benefit to the body. Windex is also calorie-free, but you wouldn’t use that in your food, would you? Perhaps that’s an extreme comparison, but the picture I’m trying to paint is that artificial sweeteners are chemicals that don’t serve a role or function in our bodies.

Artificial Sweeteners Lead to More Cravings, Not Less

Some studies have found that artificial sweeteners disrupt the body’s natural ability to regulate calorie intake, interpret hunger signals, and deal with food cravings. When we consume something sweet, our brain expects to consume sugar and therefore calories as well. However, when we consume calorie-free chemicals like artificial sweeteners no calories follow the sweet taste, and therefore our brains will signal for us to continue consuming the sweet taste until calories follow. Because artificial sweeteners are much sweeter than natural sugars, they actually activate our taste buds to crave very strong sweet tastes and more of it.

Artificial Sweeteners Can Contribute to Weight Gain

Although artificial sweeteners are “calorie-free” these chemical food additives have been shown to contribute to weight gain, not weight loss as they were intended. For most of human history, sweeteners were inextricably tied to caloric density. Humans (and other animals) have a natural ability to regulate calories and weight based on the taste and texture of food. Recently, studies have found that although artificial sweeteners are “calorie-free” their sweetness still stimulates the production of insulin, your fat-storage hormone. When our bodies release insulin, we are in a storage mode since insulin’s job is to put nutrients into your cells, however, in the case of artificial sweeteners, there are no nutrients present. As no nutrients are present in the body, the signal loop becomes damaged, our hunger cues remain, and this can lead to overeating.

Artificial Sweeteners Harm Gut Bacteria

We know that the health of our gut is incredibly important and if our gut is healthy chances we are too. The beneficial bacteria in our gut help to produce vitamins, absorb nutrients, protect us from infection, and support the health of our overall immune system. A dysbiosis, or disruption in our gut bacteria, has been shown to affect a number of common health concerns including skin issues, digestive issues, and weight gain. Because artificial sweeteners are, just that, artificial, they pass through the digestive system untouched and undigested. However, recent research suggests that although they are not directly digested by the body, their chemical nature can influence your health by changing your gut bacteria.

The Bottom Line

Artificial sweeteners are chemical products that serve no beneficial function, purpose, or role in our health. If you want to consume a sweet treat, you are best to actually consume a sweet treat, not a chemically processed product that just happens to taste sweet. Focus on natural sweeteners, enjoy treats in moderation, and leave artificial sweeteners for the laboratory.